Shereen Richard

RELS_1310_Sec 2
Final Theology Portfolio
5/8/14
My name is Shereen Richard, and I am in my second semester in the Biology:
Human Medicine 3+2 PA Program at Our Lady of the Lake College. This semester, I was
required to take the course Religion 1310 Section 2. For this course, we were required 10
hours of service learning from the organization of our choosing from the organizations
provided. Out of the choices provided, I chose to volunteer at the YWCA Early Head
Start Program. This organizations mission and purpose is to nurture and support the
development of children, family, and staff, and to enhance the educational status and
economical outcomes of teen parents and their children so they will be self-sufficient
members of the community. Going into the service-learning portion of the class, I knew
I would want to work with children. I find children make the world a brighter place.
Although many children can be rotten, I find the innocence of children a beautiful thing. I
thoroughly enjoy spending my time with children because when I am with them, I dont
stop to think about all of the negativity in the world. I think about how amazing and huge
the world is to them, how bright their futures are, and how they have the potential to
change the world one day. I chose the YWCA Early Head Start Program because I wanted
to spend time with children who are still happy even though they are not in the best
situations. I wanted to help the children see how special and loved they were, even if at
times, their relatives or peers do not show them affection. I knew that this experience
would help me to appreciate the life I have had and would encourage me to reach out to
my community even more.

The aspect of the service learning experience that challenged me the most was
leaving when I had finished my 10 hours. Throughout my experience, I became
extremely attached to the children. They probably did not remember me because my
visits were spaced a part by weeks, but I surely remembered them. I grew extremely close
to a child named Kayla who was one year old. She had just started walking and followed
me everywhere I went. I fed her and played with her along with the other children the
entire time I was there. In the beginning, I thought that I would just get my 10 hours of
service and be done without a second thought. To my surprise, on the last day when I was
feeding the children, I began crying realizing that my time was up. If it were up to me, I
would make sure each and every one of them had an amazing childhood. Not knowing
how their lives were at home or what kind of person they would become as they grew up
was really hard to accept as I was leaving. This was the most difficult part of my
experience with the children.
There were two moments throughout my entire experience that touched my heart
and made me extremely happy to be there. Every day after breakfast, all of the children
were told to go and sit in the reading area where we would sing songs, dance, and read
books. My second visit to the center, I was asked to read some books to the children
while the instructors cleaned up. When I got to the reading area, the children were so
excited to read books that they could not even contain their excitement. They picked out
all of their favorite books and sat down patiently until I was ready to read. This really
made me appreciate the life I have. These days, many children are extremely selfish, and
most of them cannot live without television or video games for five minutes. But
watching these childrens eyes light up right before I read the books was a wonderful

feeling that cant be beat. I could tell they truly appreciated the time I was giving up to
spend with them, which made the whole trip worthwhile. Another satisfying moment was
when many of the childrens parents had come for a parent meeting and stayed a while
after to spend time with their kids before they went back to school. At this moment,
watching the way the parents spent time with their children, I could really see the love
that many of these parents have for their children even though they were very young.
Even though these parents may have not made the best decision at a point in their lives, I
could tell that they were trying to make the best of the situation by giving themselves and
their children care and an education. This made me really appreciate and understand the
mission of the YWCA Organization.
I found God present in my service the entire time because there is no other faith
than the faith of a child, but I found His presence the most when I was watching the
parents play with their children. I found Him present here because the love that the
parents had for their children could only come from God. I would not necessarily say
God was ever absent because He never is, but the most unfortunate situation that
occurred was when I heard the instructors talking of a parent who could not bring their
child in because she had no gas in her car. In this situation, God was still there; He just
had a reason for her not to be on the road maybe. This was a sad situation where I wished
the parent had more money or better luck getting the necessities she needed for her and
her family.
The YWCA Organization is a facility for teenage parents to bring their children
for care while they finish school. I believe the part of this organization where sin plays a
role is in the selfishness all humans have. I would think, many of these teenage parents

were not trying to have a child when they did. I would think that at a moment in their life,
they put their own needs and desires before anything or anyone else. When a pregnancy
results, there are others to think about. This selfishness can cause many issues along with
many blessings. The blessings would be welcoming a new child into the world. Some of
the issues could be a child being neglected or even a parent being neglected. This all
stems from the sin of selfishness. In some situations, there may be no family issue
involved, but most of the time, there is and help is needed. I will tie this in with scripture
from Genesis. We are all sinners. From the beginning of time, we have been tempted and
have sinned. Adam and Eve were both selfish when they ate the fruit from the tree of
good and evil. Just like Adam and Eve, most of the time, we are selfish in our lives and
do not think of what is really important in our lives.
This service learning experience helped me to expand my understanding of Jesus
command to love one another. It did this by helping me to realize that everyone needs
love and needs a sense of belonging. This also taught me that we should love and treat
everyone the way Jesus did when He was on Earth. Many of the readings throughout the
class come back to the topic of Jesus love and how Jesus wants us to love one another.
One of the readings we read was scripture from Luke and John. In these chapters, the
Bible explains how Jesus socialized with the poor and needy of society and explained
some of His miracles that He performed while He was on Earth. This relates to my
service learning experience because where I went to complete my service hours was not
the most fortunate community in Baton Rouge. I went there first to complete my hours,
but as my experience progressed, I began going because I actually enjoyed helping. Jesus
wants us to treat everyone with love and kindness no matter where they come from, and

many people do not. Today, many believe they are better than others based on social
rankings and income. This is not the way Jesus wants us to treat each other. This service
learning has taught me that everyone needs help sometimes, no matter where they are
from or who they are, and it is our Christian duty to help all and to not expect anything in
return, just as Jesus did. Jesus so loved the world that He sacrificed His life to save many
people who did not even know Him and many who even persecuted Him. Helping each
other out is the least we can do to follow Jesus commands to love one another.
After reading Making Room by Pohl, I realized that hospitality really has
become something different than it used to be. In my opinion, we use the word hospitality
in the wrong context most of the time. Hospitality, to me, is just welcoming others to
your own possessions, whether that be a house or even ideas. Hospitality should not only
occur when throwing parties or having company over. Hospitality should be a part of our
daily lives. I believe the point of hospitality is to treat others with respect and kindness as
you would a friend or relative. Throughout Jesus time on Earth, He received hospitality
in different ways. He was welcomed into homes, taken care of, and respected by those
who believed in Him. During my service learning experience, I believe I gained a new
perspective of hospitality. I think hospitality is extremely important to practice. Going to
the YWCA Organization was hard at first, but the way they welcomed me made my
experience much better. I think throughout my experience, from the beginning, I was a
host. I was welcomed into the facility and was told everything I needed to know in order
to have the best experience with the children. I was there to serve. I took care of the
children by feeding them, washing their hands, and keeping them entertained. I was the
host, and the children were my guests.

Throughout my seven journals, I wrote on the topics of beliefs and practices with
regard to the reading Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life by
Miroslav Volf, the question of whether people are generally good or generally bad with
regard to scripture from Genesis, the topic of suffering and its meaning with regard to the
reading Tsunami and Theodicy by David Bentley Hart, the meaning of healing with
regard to the reading The Meaning of Healing: Transcending Suffering by Thomas R.
Egnew, and the topic of eschatology with regard to the reading Essentials of Christian
Theology Chapter 9 edited by William C. Placher.
My service learning experience connected to all of these themes I reflected on in
my journals. My beliefs in God and Gods commandments to love one another influenced
my practices of going to YWCA to volunteer. Even though I had to have the hours in
order to pass my class, I still made the best of the situation, which comes from my
beliefs. I also experienced the question of whether people are generally good and do bad
things or whether people are generally bad and occasionally do good things. After seeing
many of the teenage parents spending quality time with their children, I could see the
love in their eyes. This love can only come from God. While they may have made some
not-so-smart decisions in their lifetime, this does not mean they are bad people. They
are good people who occasionally make not-so-good decisions. Another topic I can relate
to my service learning to would be suffering and its meaning. Many of the teenage
parents who bring their children in to the YWCA facility have probably gone through a
form of suffering in their lifetime, whether it be financial, mental, or even physical
suffering. In the reading Tsunami and Theodicy the author talks about how suffering
has no meaning. I believe this is wrong, especially in these situations. Yes, many of these

parents have suffered, but I believe in this case, the purpose of their suffering is for their
children. If they suffer or struggle, it will force them to mature and grow to make the best
life for their children. I believe this is the meaning of many of these parents suffering.
My service-learning experience made me think deeper about my beliefs. At a
couple points during my hours while playing with the children, I would wonder why did
God put some of these children in a situation where their parents struggled to take care of
them? I would think that why would God make them suffer for a problem that was not
their fault? This question just made me realize how God has a plan for everyone and He
does not give anyone more than they can handle. These children are happy at YWCA,
and I can see it in the way they play and act. Maybe the situation the children are in is the
situation that will make them who they are supposed to be. I believe God always has a
reason.
The most helpful theological idea that helped me through my service learning
experience was the topic on whether people are generally good or generally bad.
Throughout my hours, a few times, I found myself becoming angry at the parents for
having these children at such young ages. I would become aggravated thinking why
even consider having a child when you can barely take care of your own life? But then, I
began to think about all of the mistakes I have made that were extremely selfish and
foolish of me. This experience has helped me to accept that no one is perfect and a lot of
the time, our mistakes make us better people. These teenage parents are not bad people.
They are good people who are making the best of the situation. The theological idea that
helped me the least was the idea of eschatology. I dont find that I can really apply an
idea that I dont understand myself to a situation involving others.

I am extremely thankful that I had to complete service learning hours for this
course. I am even more convinced that I want my career to involve children. I also
realized how much I have grown as a person throughout this course. I did not realize I
would be able to apply what I learned throughout the course in my everyday life so
easily, especially in my service learning. I have learned so much and my reading abilities
and vocabulary have definitely expanded due to the challenging readings. The biggest
aspect of the course I am extremely thankful for is the fact that I explored my beliefs at a
deeper level than I ever thought possible. Many of the topics discussed in class and in the
readings I had never even considered before. I know much more about my faith and
myself after taking this course.